W. C. BAUERS
  • Landing
  • Promise Paen

To swear or not to swear. That  is the question.

2/14/2014

0 Comments

 
I write military sf and read and watch a lot of the same. Blood, guts, and swearing abound. If you want good reads try John Scalzi and W.E.B. Griffin (pronounced "Web" Griffin), David Weber (the "Great One" in my opinion - this has nothing to do with his stature by the way), and Orson Scott Card. Card's Ender's Game is required reading, at least it should be. Frank Herbert is a must too. Dune made me fall for sf all over again.

Language is a regular trope in military sf. Think Gunny Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. Or the DI in Scalzi's Old Man's War. By the way, Scalzi can string colorful metaphors like a poet - I've never laughed or blushed so hard as I did in the first half of OMW.

If I tell you a character "swears like a sailor" I bet you know exactly what I mean. Thank Hollywood and reams of pulp for that. And ex-military like my late grandfather, God rest his soul. Chief Petty Officer Bill Coates was a sinner in his early years, and an unvarnished saint in midlife and retirement after a "come to Jesus meeting." Jesus came in, kicked the hell out of him, and never did leave. But grandpa kept some of his rough edges. I remember sitting with him in his den,  and something on the news would spark one of his songs like "No More Navy, Gee Mom I Wanna Go Home" - which was actually pretty tame now that I think about it - and my mother would clear her throat as he reached the salty part in the song. "Ah, mom, come on." Grandpa always did an about-face in front of her, charged head on when it was just the two of us. Those were the days. Sure which he and his songs were still with us too.

As a writer, I'm mindful of characters and caricatures like Gunny Hartman. He's one type of soldier but he isn't every soldier or even every gunny. And I question how realistic his character is. I should state here that I've never served so I have to go on what I read about and hear and see, including my interviews with women and men in uniform. Are there counterparts to the foul-mouthed Gunny Hartmans of the world? You know, the ones who aren't. Foul-mouthed. Really? Well, yeah, I know some, and maybe they are more common than we realize. Maybe more so than a lot of us realize. My parents lived by a retired Marine Corps gunny for years. To paraphrase a conversation they relayed to me, the gunny said he took pleasure, and sometimes displeasure, in dressing down a lot of privates in his career. But he was always mindful about how he did it, and if he had to use a four-letter word to get his point across then he wasn't very good at his job. Really? If he had to swear he wasn't very good at his job? That's interesting...and it contradicts about every stereotype of a gunnery sergeant I can think of, right? Maybe, but maybe not. I know another retired Marine Corps gunny who isn't exactly straight-laced, but his mouth isn't an off-color fusillade either. He doesn't say a lot but what he says is weighty...and people listen...and he has an excellent command of the English language. I know a retired Army "Light" Colonel the size of a tank who is careful with his words and his life. He's an imposing  man and only a fool would cross him. But he made a conscious decision years ago to watch his language. There's a retired Navy commander and a retired Air Force "Light" Colonel who made similar decisions during their careers too.

Living in a military town you meet a lot of military guys and gals. I've had the chance to get to know some better than others, and I've learned that some swear and some try not to, others just don't. Period. They will all tell you that stress and swearing tend to go hand-in-hand. Combat stress unleashes the tongue. It's just human nature. Go smash your thumb with a hammer and you'll get a small taste of what I mean. But, day-to-day, a lot of sailors and airmen and soldiers and Marines are as straight-laced as a boot.

Which brings me to my point. Hollywood doesn't always get it right. Authors don't always get it right. "Civvies" like me don't always get it right either. The military isn't a homogenous group of foul-mouthed war-fighters. The truth is a lot of us aren't in the military and don't know someone who is all that well. We are informed by the opinion of others, and those opinions are only types and shadows of a larger truth. Don't get me wrong. I don't doubt there are foul-mouthed sailors and Marines who are foul-mouthed all the time, and gunny's that can drop the f-bomb one hundred ways. And I'm sure their are many shades of grey. Soldiers who swear a bit,  some a bit more, and some a lot but never around their mothers. But there's also a cadre of  women and men who are as careful with their words as they are with the people under their command. And as a writer I feel a great burden to remember and respect and represent them in my stories too. 












0 Comments



Leave a Reply.



    Archives

    September 2019
    June 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013


    Categories

    All
    2016 Best Of Lists
    2nd Amendment
    Addiction
    Alex Benedict
    American History
    Amusing Ourselves To Death
    And Caleb
    Andi Arndt
    Andrew
    Andy Weir
    Anne Leckie
    AR-15
    A Talent For War
    Audio
    Audio Books
    Author Interviews
    Ayn Rand
    Becoming
    Ben Carson
    Best Of Lists
    Bible Stories
    Bolt-Action Rifle
    Book Reviews
    Bored Kids
    Boston Massacre
    Brad Torgerson
    Brain Science
    Brian Sanderson
    Bruce Lee
    Cadences
    Campbell Award
    Camping
    Carpool
    Carrie Fisher
    Character
    Charles Dickens
    Charles Schultz
    Charlottesville
    Chase Colpath
    Chief Petty Officer
    Children's Stories
    Christmas
    Chronicles Of Promise Paen
    Clarity Verses Agreement
    Coffee
    Commuting
    Creativity
    Cross Cult
    Daddy Dates
    Dancing
    David And Goliath
    David Weber
    Dealing With Tragedy
    Dealing With Trauma
    Declaration Of Independence
    Depression
    Donald Trump
    Editing
    Election 2016
    Election Fatigue
    Escapism
    Excessive Screen Time
    Favorite Things
    First Person Shooters
    Functional Nerds
    Gary Barkalow
    George R. R. Martin
    German Edition
    Giants
    Giveaway
    G. K. Chesterton
    GLOCK
    Good And Evil
    Grandpa
    Grief
    Gun Control
    Gun Defense
    Gun Laws
    Gunny Hartman
    Hashtag
    Hermione
    How To Get Published
    Hubris
    Hugo Awards
    Humility
    Imaginative Play
    Imperial AT-AT Walker
    Indomitable
    Io9
    Iron Man
    Jackie Chan
    Jack McDevitt
    Jesus
    Jody Calls
    Joe Biden
    John Adams
    John Ringo
    John Scalzi
    Jonah And The Whale
    Katniss
    Kindness
    King George
    Korean War
    Legalized Marijuana
    Literary Agent
    Little C
    Loncon3
    Loss
    Marco Palmieri
    Marijuana
    Marine
    Marta Costa
    Martial Arts
    Mass Shootings
    Mechsuit
    Memorial Day
    MileHiCon
    Miley Cyrus
    Military
    Military Draft
    Military Science Fiction
    Millennium Falcon
    Monuments
    Movies
    MS Word
    NaNoWriMo
    Nate
    Navy
    Nazis
    Nebula Award
    NES Classic Edition
    New Year's Resolution
    No Pants
    Octavia Gone
    Oregon's Umpqua Community College
    Oscars
    Our Mutual Friend
    Paradox Series
    Parenting
    Peanuts
    Pearl Harbor
    Phillip Brooks
    Picture Books
    Podcasts
    Pokemon Go
    Politics
    Poor Off
    Post Traumatic Stress
    Poverty
    Practicing Empathy
    Preschool
    Pride And Prejudice
    Promise Paen
    Property Rights
    Rachel Bach
    Racism
    Raising Boys
    RAW MC
    RAW-MC
    Ready Player One
    Rebellion
    Red And Blue
    Revolutionary War
    Robert Heinlein
    Rogue One
    Sad Puppies
    Science Fiction
    Second Amendment
    Sermon
    Setting Goals
    Shannara Chronicles
    Singing
    Slate Gate
    Space Marine
    Space Opera
    Spock
    Stamp Act
    Star Trek
    Star Wars
    Stephan Martiniere
    Streaming Services
    Suffering
    Summer Break
    Sun And Moon
    Swearing
    Taekwondo
    Tag Your Book
    Techfast
    Technology Fast
    The Force Awakens
    The Martian
    The Peanuts Movie
    Tiny Bible Tales
    Tor
    Track Changes
    Tree Of Liberty
    Triss
    Unbreakable
    Urban Meyer
    Victor Company
    W. C. Bauers
    Wealth
    White Christmas
    White Supremacy
    Wookiee
    World War II
    Writing Believable Characters
    Writing Realistic Combat Scenes

    RSS Feed


  • Landing
  • Promise Paen